Stating an opinion

Ya gotta love "opinion polls." Political decisions and product placement and marketing are often swayed by "public opinion." I don't quibble with dish soap fragrance opinions. But should decisions vital to the future of our country be made based on public whim? In a democracy (a republic, whatever) where the vox populi are "in charge" shouldn't public opinion be valued? Shouldn't political decisions consider the will of the people? Perhaps it is an a priori truth. A good rule to follow for somebody who has to run a popularity contest to get elected and re-elected. Until you come down to the specifics of each issue. If decisions on important matters are swayed by simple public opinion, how valid are the opinions and or the polls when it comes down to matters the public has little or knowledge of and only a passing interest in finding out one way or another? Maybe their opinions are swayed by polls? Anyway, your phone rings and you hesitate to answer but pick it up anyway, which is almost always a bad idea. It's a polling service. At least it's not the police benevolent society having a ball. They have just a few short questions that'll take less than three minutes to answer. Surely you have three minutes to express your opinion on matters vital to our country? By mistake you say yes (maybe you're having a cocktail (2?-3?)).

Okay here we go. Here's question number one. "What do you think about the Elliot Jackson, Marcus Snowden matter?"

You're drawing a blank.

"Were you shocked?" "How shocked were you?" "On a level of one to five with five being 'very shocked' what would be your level of outrage?"

So you say "Never heard of either person. Don't know a thing about it."

Ah, then the brilliance of the whole endeavor surfaces. "Sir, it just doesn't matter (remember Meatballs?, it just doesn't matter, it just doesn't matter). This is an 'opinion' poll. We want to know how you FEEL about things. The specifics of your level of knowledge are less important than the way you're leaning on the matter. Can you give me a number here between one and five, please?"

So there it is. Your chance to let the pols know how you feel. It gives me warm and fuzzy shivers. So am I positing that uneducated opinion(s) tend to be important only in popularity contests and beauty products and are a dangerous way to run a country? I beleive I am. But then, what do I know? But please, give me your opinion.